Harry Tyson Moore, a civil rights activist said, “Freedom never descends upon a people, it is always bought with a price.”

This quote resonates deeply with me. I saw it when I visited the National Museum of African American History and Culture, a Smithsonian museum shortly after it opened in 2016. As I toured this museum, I felt so many emotions, including rage, disappointment, and sadness. To see how my people, people of color, African Americans, Black people were treated as mere things, objectified and sold on a block to the highest bidder, it brought tears to my eyes. To see all the terrible things that were done to people just because of the color of their skin, made me, a BLACK Woman and Mother, sick to my stomach and heart-broken. My head was filled with so many questions, like how much is a human life worth? How does one even make such a calculation? Who gets to decide that? And Why?

This was the introduction to the museum, then I moved through the different times, including “the end” of slavery, segregation, the civil rights movement and integration and I even saw how long it took for us to get the first black president. The museum showed the country progressing; it appeared that America had come a long way. Yet, I left knowing that America still had a long way to go.

Fast-forward to today (June 2020), in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic, you see people protesting, chanting, “Black Lives Matter.” In the streets, the protesters are screaming, “No Justice, No Peace!” These people are literally risking their own lives to help bring about a much-needed change. The coronavirus pandemic is still happening, people are still dying from the virus, and black people are dying from the virus at a disproportionately higher rate. Yet, Change is so desperately needed that the public outcry must continue.

The same change that was suppose to be descended upon Black people, many years ago is still being fought for today and being paid for with life after life.

It’s not African-American History if it’s still happening today!

Despite all the information that is floating on the Internet, in the news, in history books, and sooo much proof that injustice for black people existed in the past and IS STILL HAPPENING, there are people out there that need to be told to care about others.

Despite all the videos, pictures and testimonies of police brutality, of black men, women and children being racially profiled and treated badly because of the color of their skin, with some murdered while in handcuffs, in cold-blood by the very people that took an oath to protect and serve, there are other humans that need to be convinced. Before they show Empathy towards black people, and before they join in the fight against injustice, they need more evidence.

More!!! Can you imagine? These people in denial are choosing to be blind, having to be begged to do their part as fellow humans, to show concern for another human life.

Just Sad!

Others want to fight over semantics and say All Lives Matter instead of Black Lives Matter because they want to be cautious, and straddle the line of standing for what is right and being accepted by their friends. Some want to say Blue Lives Matter as if their acknowledgement that Black people are being unjustly profiled, injured, or murdered is a crime against humanity.

No.

The crime is the fact that some police officers are acting as the judge and executioner. They are presuming that black people are guilty before a trial and taking matters into their own hands without any concern for black human life.

Truth is, these same people are happy with the disgusting way that black people are being treated. The fact that black people are disproportionately enduring more hardships does not affect them at all. They lack Empathy. They refuse to see things from a different perspective, the human perspective, the moral perspective, and the conscious perspective.

So because of these people, the ones that refuse to say and act like Black Lives Matter, some of which are in the positions to effect change, especially those in leadership positions, Black Lives Matter protestors are in the streets, marching, chanting, doing what they think is necessary to bring about the change that is so long overdue, risking their own demise for what they and I believe is right for black people and our society.

A Basic Human Right, To Live And To Breathe The Same Air

To Be Treated Equally, That’s The Main Thing

We Are Not Looking For Hand-Outs, We Are Not Asking For Too Much

We Simply Want Basic Human Rights

That’s What We Fight For, That’s What Is Causing So Much Pain,

That’s What We Stand To Gain

Equality!

Real Equality For Black People

Freedom To Live Without A Price On Our Heads Or a Target on Our Backs

To Be Valued As Human Beings And To Realize Our Ancestors Dreams

To Be Treated and Respected As Part of Mankind

Freedom and Equality should no longer be a dream

That’s All We are Screaming

Change today, Change it now

The public outcry is much more than about police brutality on Black people. It can be traced back to the enslavement of black people, the reason for the civil rights movement, and in all facets of our society today. With a little digging, you will find that Black people are disproportionately affected in many areas: Imprisonment, Healthcare, Schools, High Paying Jobs, Leadership positions, the list is long.

How many more black lives have to be sacrificed before black people are treated as human beings?

How many more generations have to suffer the same pain?

How many more decades of people screaming the same thing?

Black Lives Matter!

It’s Not Just A Saying Or A Hashtag.

It Is The Truth And Should Be Everyone’s Reality.

Black People, My People, A Disproportionately Affected People.

We Matter!

We Mattered Yesterday!

We Matter Today!

We Will Matter Tomorrow!